Consumer Law

Credit Bureaus Won't Let You Add Credit History

By Kemnitzer, Anderson, Barron, Ogilvie & Brewer

The NY Daily News reports on an individual who noticed his credit reports did not show all his credit cards. He gathered his credit card documents and sent them to the credit reporting agencies asking them to add them to his credit history with the idea it would improve his credit standing.

Trans Union wrote back saying no dice. They won't accept credit information from consumers. It has to come from subscribers. A TU spokesman dodged the real issue why not by saying consumers "cannot dispute an item that does not exist on their credit report." Of course, the consumer was not disputing anything. He wanted to update his report.

The TU spokesman said to contact the creditors and ask them to update TU. Bottom line--the FCRA should be amended to allow consumers to add to their reports. The credit bureaus could check with the creditors to see if it is accurate before accepting it.

Full post as published by California Credit Law Blog on October 07, 2008 (boomark / email).